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The magnitude-7.8 quake that rattled New Zealand , killing at least two people and stranding yard of people , completely translate the underlie faults in the region .
Six major faults tear as a result of theNew Zealand earthquake , a new map unveil .
A new map reveals that six faults ruptured during the Nov. 14 Kaikoura earthquake in New Zealand. The magnitude-7.8 quake ruptured at least four faults along the coast, as well as two inland. Arrows show the level of displacement along each of these faults.
The Kaikouraearthquake struck the South Island of New Zealandearly in the first light on Nov. 14 local metre , trigger landslip , tsunami and hundreds of aftershocks . And thousands of people were strand when earthquake detritus dam a river . During the quake , bystanders capture images of mysteriousearthquake sparkle paint the sky in eerie blue and green .
To see how the massive seism reshape the landscape painting , Nicola Litchfield , a geologist with the geoscience consultancy group GNS Science in New Zealand , and colleagues flew over the South Island in a helicopter to take video footage of the region . [ The 10 Biggest Earthquakes in History ]
The team compared before - and - after images of the faults in the orbit .
It turned out the temblor had dramatically alter the worldly concern at a lower place .
Four faults along the coastline ruptured and poke out out into the sea , while another two defect ruptured inland , closer to the epicentre of the earthquake , Litchfield said . land - base GPS station also expose major motion at these faults , she total .
" The whole coast appears to have been uplifted from Cape Campbell all the way south to Kaikoura , " Litchfield told Live Science . " The I right on the coast appear to have very large movement , almost 1 beat [ 3.3 groundwork ] up and almost 3 grand [ 10 foot ] — by the looks of thing — sideways as well . "
Now geologist are scrambling to count on out what this means for quake danger in the part .
" It ’s a really complicated area and there are a lot of fault here , so the temblor will have relieved the stress in some places , but unfortunately will have increased the focus in others . That ’s what we are desperately trying to figure out now — what might have been load up up . "
New Zealand sits atop the implausibly complicated Marlborough Fault System , a curing of fourstrike - slip faults(where two plates slide past each other rather than crashing into one another ) that lie in at the boundary of the Australian and Pacific scale . Farther East inthe subduction zone , the Pacific home base is diving beneath the Australian plate , but almost all the locked stress there gets translated into motion along the Marlborough Fault System , Litchfield said .
The next footfall is to take ships out to send sound waves beneath the H2O to map the seafloor . By compare before - and - after seafloor maps , geologist can find out how far offshore the falling out extend , Litchfield tell . That , in turn , will help reveal where faults are newly locked and load up .
Because the temblor is so new , the findings have not yet been published or relegate to a peer - reviewed journal , Litchfield say .
Original clause onLive Science .
